Transmission Lines and SWR - Part V

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1 More on Transmission Lines and SWR part V By Don Steinbach, AE6PM The first four articles in this series were designed to provide some background definitions and equations as they apply specifically to Transmission Lines and SWR. There aren t any scientific breakthroughs there it s all based on information that s been around for years. The remainder of this series will focus on applying this information to real world situations. Practical Considerations The effort expended working on an antenna trying to drive the SWR down could often be better spent just making contacts instead. Bear in mind that a 1 dB change in signal level is, by definition, the minimum perceptible change in other words, the smallest change that your ear can detect. Your receiver S-meter is designed so that a 6 dB change is one S-unit (more or less) or a 4x change in power, so a 3 dB increase or decrease (2x in signal power) is one-half of one S-unit.

7 Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of the Heathkit AM-2 SWR meter. The Antenna Analyzer The antenna analyzer is a useful instrument for characterizing a transmission line.

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